EWING — For the higher seeds in the Cumberland District tournament, the semifinals no longer presented a win-or- go-home scenario.

The four teams involved in Friday’s boys semifinals at Thomas Walker High School played like it anyway.

St. Paul and Castlewood advanced to tonight’s championship game after two spirited contests.

Tyler Phillips and Corey Ellis propelled the third-seeded Deacons past No. 2 Coeburn 73-66 in a mild upset. Castlewood, the top seed and regular-season district champ, dominated the third quarter en route to a 67-38 victory over fourth-seeded Twin Springs.

All four teams will take part in a quadruple-header today at Thomas Walker that begins at 3 p.m. with the girls’ third-place game between Rye Cove and Castlewood. The Coeburn and Twin Springs boys follow in their consolation game. Ervinton and Coeburn will tip off the girls’ championship at about 6:30 p.m., with the boys’ title game between St. Paul and Castlewood wrapping up the night.

If the Deacons can replicate their performance against Coeburn, they could be tough to beat tonight.

St. Paul (19-5) shot 60 percent in the first half and never trailed after intermission. Coeburn tied the game at 51-all early in the fourth quarter on Holden Burke’s 3-pointer, but the Deacons responded with a 7-0 run to regain control.

For St. Paul, though, it was all about that strong start. Phillips converted a trio of three-point plays during the Deacons’ first half, during which the senior tallied 15 of his 21 points.

“That’s the thing we couldn’t do the first two times we played Coeburn; we couldn’t get any momentum at all,” said Phillips, who also grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds.

When the Blue Knights started rolling in the second half, St. Paul snatched the momentum right back. Freshman Reid Edmonds drove the lane for an and-one bucket to break the 51-51 deadlock, and made the assist to Phillips for another basket during the pivotal 7-0 run.

Edmonds totaled nine points and six assists. In the eight games since he took over as starting point guard, St. Paul only has lost once — to Castlewood.